15th May 2026
Dear Applicant,
Please accept our apologies for the delay on this response.
Please consider this as our formal response to your information request which was logged under the above reference number and treated as a request made under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004.
1. Copies of all internal briefing papers, reports, and decision notes prepared for council officers, cabinet members, or committees that discuss, approve, or monitor the £20,000,000 Levelling Up Fund awarded for the Marple Community Hub, from January 2021 to present.
2. Any internal correspondence or emails between council officers and central government (DLUHC/MHCLG) or ministers regarding approval, allocation, conditions, or monitoring of the £20m Marple Community Hub funding.
3. Any internal costings, risk assessments, or financial monitoring documents specifically related to the use, management, or expected outcomes
Thank you for your request for information relating to the £20,000,000 Levelling Up Fund award for the Marple Community Hub. Having considered your request, the Council has determined that the requested information falls within the scope of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), as it relates to the use of land, infrastructure development, and associated public funding.
Your request has been refused under Regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR, which allows public authorities to refuse requests that are manifestly unreasonable, including where compliance would impose a grossly disproportionate burden.
Reasons for Refusal
The scope of your request is considered manifestly unreasonable for the following reasons:
•
Breadth and duration: The request covers a period of over three years (January 2021 to present) and seeks:
o
All internal briefing papers, reports, and decision notes,
o
All correspondence with central government and ministers,
o
All costings, risk assessments, and financial monitoring documents.
•
Volume of material: The information requested spans multiple service areas (e.g. regeneration, finance, governance, legal, and senior management), likely amounting to a very substantial volume of records, including emails and attachments.
•
Complexity of retrieval: Identifying, locating, retrieving, and reviewing this material would require:
o
Extensive searches across numerous systems and staff accounts,
o
Detailed line-by-line review of documents and correspondence,
o
Consideration of multiple exemptions (e.g. commercial confidentiality, personal data, policy formulation).
•
Disproportionate burden: The cumulative effort required to comply would significantly exceed what is considered reasonable, diverting a disproportionate amount of Council resources away from its core functions.
Your request covers a broad range of information (including emails, reports, and financial documents) over a period from January 2021 to present, across multiple service areas.
A preliminary search identified approximately 12,000 emails potentially within scope, plus numerous attachments.
Estimated burden
•
Email review: 400–600 hours
•
Attachments: 150–250 hours
•
Retrieval, redaction, and checks: 100–150 hours
Total: ~650–1,000 hours of officer time
Public Interest Test
Regulation 12(4)(b) is subject to the public interest test.
Factors in favour of disclosure:
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Promoting transparency and accountability in the use of public funds,
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Public interest in the delivery and oversight of Levelling Up Fund projects.
Factors in favour of maintaining the exception:
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The substantial burden on public resources required to process the request,
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The impact on the Council’s ability to deliver essential services,
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The fact that some relevant information is already available in the public domain (e.g. committee reports and funding announcements).
Conclusion:
On balance, the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
Advice and Assistance (Regulation 9)
We would be happy to assist you in refining your request to bring it within a manageable scope. For example, you may wish to:
•
Limit the timeframe to a shorter period,
•
Request specific document types (e.g. Cabinet or committee reports only),
•
Focus on a narrower aspect (e.g. initial funding approval rather than all monitoring activity).
Documents held by Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council may fall under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015. If you receive a Council document and you wish to use it for a new purpose, please identify the document in question and describe how you intend to re-use it. We will aim to respond to any re-use request within 20 working days.
You can find more information about EIR requests via the following link:
Freedom of Information – Stockport Council
If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request for information, you can ask for an internal review however, you must do so within 40 working days from the date of this response. Any internal review will be carried out by an officer who was not involved with your original request. To request an internal review, please contact us by emailing foi@stockport.gov.uk or call 0161 474 4299, quoting your reference number.
Following the completion of an internal review, if you are dissatisfied with the outcome, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) via the following contact points:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
0303 123 1113 Kind regards,
Freedom of Information Officer
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council
Dear Freedom of Information Officer,
Thank you for your response and for explaining the Council’s reliance on Regulation 12(4)(b) EIR.
In light of the concerns raised regarding scope and burden, I would like to refine my request to bring it within a more manageable range.
Please provide the following information relating to the £20m Levelling Up Fund award for the Marple Community Hub:
- Copies of all Cabinet reports, Cabinet briefing papers, committee reports, and formal decision notices relating to:
- approval of the funding,
- allocation of the funding, or
- monitoring/progress of the project,
- Copies of any formal correspondence exchanged between Stockport Council and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (or successor department) specifically concerning:
- approval of the funding bid,
- grant conditions, or
- project monitoring,
- Any project-level risk registers or high-level financial monitoring summaries presented to Cabinet, committees, or senior leadership relating to the Marple Community Hub project during the same period.
To further reduce the burden, I am content for:
- duplicate emails or documents to be excluded,
- routine administrative correspondence to be excluded,
- personal data and commercially sensitive information to be redacted where appropriate under the EIR.
Given the Council’s estimate that the original request was overly broad, I believe this refined request should now fall within a proportionate and manageable scope under the EIR.
Please confirm receipt and whether the Council requires any further clarification.
Kind regards,
Sheila Oliver
This is the story they are covering up:-
Vicki Bates, Monitoring Officer again.
